1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods of the exemplary embodiments of the present general inventive concept relate to a host apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus and a setting information management method thereof, and more particularly, to a host apparatus and an information management method thereof which manages setting information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected thereto in a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus forms an image on a document. The image forming apparatus may include a printer, a photocopier, a facsimile, a multi-function device which has at least two functions, etc.
Recently, demand for an image forming apparatus as an office automation device performing not only a document print function but also a scanning function and a faxing function has increased. Accordingly, the image forming apparatus has been developed to provide extended functions with high performance.
To more efficiently manage an image forming apparatus connected in a network, a user (or administrator) manages various setting information of each device, i.e., an image forming apparatus by using a host apparatus such as a personal computer (PC).
The management method of the image forming apparatus includes (i) identifying and changing setting information of each image forming apparatus by accessing an internal Web server provided in the image forming apparatus; (ii) transmitting setting information through simple network management protocol (SNMP); (iii) using an integrated management solution of the image forming apparatus installed in the host apparatus; and (iv) uniformly applying setting information to the image forming apparatus by using an environment setting import/export function.
However, the method of using the Web server or the SNMP protocol requires a user to identify and change the setting information for each device, and thus the method is not efficient in managing a plurality of image forming apparatuses simultaneously.
Also, the method of using the integrated management solution or environment setting import/export function is mainly used when massive data are input simultaneously or the setting of a plurality of image forming apparatuses is synchronized. Thus, if the same setting information or different setting information exists for image forming apparatuses having different functions, a user may feel inconvenienced. Further, due to synchronization, particular setting information may be changed uniformly regardless of a user's intention.